A year after District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office dropped charges against a New Orleans officer in the death of a police dog, an Orleans Parish grand jury has indicted Sgt. Randy Lewis.

Times-Picayune archiveNOPD Sgt. Randy Lewis was indicted Thursday on one count of malfeasance in office in the death of a K-9 police dog while he worked a private detail.

Lewis, a former supervisor in the NOPD's maligned K-9 unit, is accused of malfeasance in connection with the incident in 2009, in which a police dog, Phantom, fell down an elevator shaft and died while Lewis worked a private paid detail at the shuttered Charity Hospital.

Lewis, 46, had claimed in a police incident report that he was on duty and involved in a training exercise.

More evidence came to light since the initial charge was dropped on Oct. 6, 2010, Cannizzaro spokesman Christopher Bowman said. He declined to elaborate.

The malfeasance in office charge against Lewis stems from "using department property for personal gain and filing and maintaining false public records," Bowman said.

Lewis is expected to turn himself in on Monday, said NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden. He will be reassigned to desk duty, and a new investigation by the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau will be launched, Braden said.

If convicted, Lewis faces a maximum five years in prison or $5,000 fine.

"Here's a perfect example of how the detail system has been abused by certain police officers," said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, which investigated a string of K-9 deaths at the hands of NOPD officers.

"Not only was there an abuse of the detail system, but there was an attempt to cover up a detail and term it a training exercise so an officer could evade administrative sanctions from the department and also not be held financially responsible for losing a dog."

Lewis was initially charged in April, 2010, along with K-9 Officer Jason Lewis, who was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals. That case received an onslaught of publicity when the crime commission released photographs and documents showing that the officer's Belgian Malinois, Primo, had likely died from heat stroke after being left unattended in a K-9 vehicle.

Jason Lewis, 34, who is not related to Sgt. Randy Lewis, pleaded guilty in September 2010 to one count of cruelty to animals and received a six months suspended sentence. He also was ordered to pay $11,500 in restitution.